Beans and Peas
Beans and peas sewn: Runner Bean: Scarlet Emperor Peas: Green Shaft and Early onward Dwarf beans: Tender green This is the second year that I have cultivated peas and runner beans. The dwarf beans are new for this year. Last year, I underestimated the exacting demands of the runner beans. What I didn't bank on was just how tall they get. Planted with only short canes, the plants shot up, and soon lolled over. The container was also much smaller, and the quality of the soil wasn't particularly brilliant. I had most likely used some recycled soil, and had no idea how drained of nutrients it was. This year, i clocked on, and went all bright eyed to the garden centred and got some proper dirt. The dirt in question is endorsed by a certain chef that heralds from Essex and seems to be involved in everything. At the moment, I cannot complain, the plants are happy. This year, having reflected on last years results, I have got much longer canes. This particular been, Scarlet emperor, can allegedly grow up to eight foot. Seeing as as last year it was nearly five foot, I can believe that. These were all started off in single cells in wilkos propagator (new acquisiton for this year) and then left to cook on the window sill. Germination didn't take too look, may be a week or so. Heat and light are incredibly important, and the seeds were planted into growing compost for a good start. The legend is that peas and beans should be planted around St.Patricks day. As to whether that is true, I'm not sure but that is what I did! This is in contrast to last year, when the seeds were planted on a whim, whilst it was raining in july. Had an impact on the growth and the quality of the pods, actually. Peas and beans grow suprisingly quite quickly, graduating promptly from the propogator. The scarlet emperor runner beans are very leafy, as are the dwarf beans. That could be down to the dirt in which they are planted. One of the tricks that I came across was that the levels of nitrogen in the dirt can have an immense impact on the plants. The more nitrogen you have in the dirt, the more leaves you will get and the less fruit. Perhaps then, the Jamie's dirt is too rich, I don't know. The peas and beans are actually starting to flower. The peas are white, with the runners being a nice red colour. Beans tend to take a bit of time to crop, the peas, well, once they get going, they get going. There is something to be said about the taste of peas, and fresh home grown peas. The reason that Birdseye freezes within an hour is to retain the freshness. This couldn't be more true. Freezing means they last longer. That is, if you don't eat them as you pick them, like I did. Both the beans and the peas are starting to flower now, so we shall see how long it is before there are any pods.My mistake last year was not knowing when to actually pick them, so that's going to need researching! One of the first Tendergreen flowers. All very pretty with a shade of lilac. On the left are the scarlet emperor runner beans that are way taller than me. Have been quite productive, with baby beans being harvested quite regularly. The beans have however, been plagued by a bit of black bean aphids. This has mean zapping them with diluted fairy. Tendergreen beans are also being harvested. The beans themselves are not that big, again being harvested early. But they do form rather interesting curls!